I flew down stairs as fast as I could when I heard the doorbell ring. Literally flew. My mum was out which left me free to do... whatever it was I’d been doing since my seventh birthday. Mum knew about it but chose to pass it off as insanity. Not that she complained when it helped us fit things in the boot of the car every holiday. But still, I preferred to wait until I was alone before trying anything too obvious.

As I opened the door I waved my hand and changed my nails and hair back to their normal shape and colour. I looked out into the face of a smiling woman and a young boy. She had very bushy brown hair and quick, intelligent eyes.

“You needn’t hide that from us if you don’t want to Aaron.” Said the mystery woman, grinning. “It’s kind of what we came to talk about.

I was too stunned to do anything but step back and let my mouth hang open. Oops, I’d meant to stop doing that. But it wasn’t my fault, I didn’t really get to see people much.
The woman walked in dragging the nervous looking boy by the hand.

“Is your mother in?” She asked, looking around before she spotted the living room and walked in to sit down on the big sofa.

“No. She’s out.” I said, following her inside and perching lightly on the small chair, at the opposite end of the dark room.

“Well.” Said the woman, smiling again and looking from me to the boy “I think we should do introductions. My name is Hermione Granger; I’m a professor at a school for people like you and my son. Which brings me to the man in question, Aaron, this is my son Hugo Weasley.”

“Hi” Muttered Hugo.

“Hi.” I whispered about three seconds late to be strictly polite.

“Before I tell you anything else I’m going to ask you to read this” Hermione said, handing me a letter.
I opened it and unfolded two thick sheets of parchment. They read;

Dear Aaron Callidus,

We at the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry would like to invite you to join our ranks. It is a school that teaches magic from a basic level, up to some of the most advanced spells.

Considering your parentage and the fact that you have been raised away from wizards, yet seem to have discovered how to use your magic early, we have decided to send Professor Granger, teacher of Arithmancy, to explain the predicament to you and then to help you get ready for Hogwarts.

Attached is a list of the First year school requirements; set texts, equipment and allowable pets.

We hope to see you soon.

Have a nice summer

Professor Clearwater

Headmistress of Hogwarts

“I’m a wizard?” I asked. In a bit of a daze. I was staring at this woman – Hermione – and wondering whether she’d seen me do something weird in the past and was now playing some sort of joke.

“Listen Aaron, I know this may be a little hard to get to grips with, but wizards are actually quite common. We have our own government, our own schools, even our own villages here and there. And that’s a world that you will soon be joining. But there are some things that we need to tell you first. To start with-“ She took a deep breath “- you are half vampire.”

I was still for about a second before scowling and opening my mouth to ask her to leave. I’d heard this before. “Aaron why do you hurt in sunlight? Are you a vampire? Is that why you don’t have a dad? Was he a vampire?” I hated vampire films, vampire books and vampire Halloween costumes. She was just making fun of me.

“I am sorry Aaron but it’s true. Your father was a vampire named Dmitri Sanguino. Or at least that’s what we think at the moment. The trouble is that it means in a few years, when other changes start happening, you may begin to get a taste for... for blood. Human blood. Which is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact one of my best teachers at school was a werewolf and he was a full blood. Do you have any questions before I move on?”

Any questions. That was a stupid think to ask, of course I had questions. My mind had now stopped everything else, stopped thinking about how we went around the sun instead of falling in, stopped wondering about how people’s brains works and why people said certain things. All of my attention was focused on the topic at hand. This level of concentrated analysis wasn’t something the universe got to see often. I usually had too many things to think about so thought about them all at once. At least this settled the 'parentage' part of the letter.

I settled for something easy “You know where my father is?” I asked

“We know who he is” she replied “But his current whereabouts are uncertain.”

“Oh. Will I start killing people?” This seemed fairly important to me.

“We doubt it. We’ve never seen a half-vampire in this country before so we’re guessing at the moment. I’m sorry but we really have to move on. I’ll be happy to talk to you about this later at school but right now we’re going to take you to meet your mother at Diagon Alley. I’m afraid I’ve not been totally honest. Your mother is currently being told similar information but we felt it needed to be alone because she will have to come to terms with... well maybe when you’re older. But for now, let’s go. You can go after me and before Hugo who will tell you what to do.”

With that she stood up, stepped towards the fireplace, threw a small amount of something into it, shouted “Diagon Alley” and disappeared in a ‘Whoosh!’ of green fire.

Hugo stepped up to me, smiled and said “Um... Hi. What you have to do is um... throw this in the fireplace and tell it where you want to go. I’m Hugo by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Hugo. I’m Aaron. Are you going to Hogwarts this year too?”

“Yeah” He said, grinning widely “I want to be in Ravenclaw.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

He was about to reply when a head pooped into my fireplace and said “Are you boys coming?”

“Sorry Mum” Hugo said. “Here, Aaron, chuck this in the fire and say ‘Diagon Alley’ and you should be fine.”

I did as asked, mainly because I knew I would regret it if I threw away this chance and in a second of spinning I was stumbling out into a noisy pub filled with cloak-clad people. I don’t like people. I found Hermione and next to her was my mother. I walked to her and hid at her side. She smiled nervously down at me and squeezed me tight against her side.

As Hugo approaches Hermione said “Right. Let’s show you around.”

* * *

Two hours later Hugo and I walked in to Olivander’s, which according to Hugo was now owned by the son of the original owner.

He was currently describing the four houses to me “-and Ravenclaw is the best because it’s about being smart. I’ve got family in all the houses but really I know that Ravenclaw is for me. I’d much rather have brains than brawn.” He said this last part with a grimace, referring to a fact he’d mentioned easier, that most of his family were Gryffindors.

“You had me at smart.” I said with a grin. “Now where do we get wands?”

“That would be over here.” Said a voice from behind the counter. We jumped and turned to see a man so pale that he even outstripped my pasty complexion. “I am Olivander, technically the second but I dropped that part of my name for ease.” He smiled an odd, empty smile. “Which of you fine gentleman would like to be tested first?”

“I’ll go” Said Hugo.

“Excellent” Said Olivander “Please step this way.

The next ten minutes looked like a flurry of wands as Olivander practically threw them into Hugo’s hand then tore them out again at the speed of light. Until suddenly it all stopped. Hugo was holding a wand that gave off a pale light from its tip.

“Wonderful” said Olivander, clapping his hands like a child “Rowan and Demiguise hair, one of the first of its kind, 12 inches, stiff, superb for charms work.”

Hugo stepped away, staring at his wand in awe. I stepped forward, eager to try wands for myself. When the first wand touched my hand it began to give of sparks.

“Oh.” Said Olivander, looking disappointed at early success. “This wand may just be over eager. Let’s try more and then if we don’t find one in ten minutes I’ll give you this one. Hmm?”

I agreed. But then the second wand touched my hand and also began to glow. As did the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh.

“Well” said Olivander “I’ve only ever heard of this happening to one person before, but I find myself in the position to let you chose a wand. Every wand has chosen you so now it is up to you to decide.”

I thought about it. Then closed my eyes and clenched my fingers into the position that helped me use my power... magic as I now knew it was... to help me look into the nature of things, and sometimes the future. My eyes snapped open and I said “I’d like the wand that is on the back shelf fort-nine places up, please Mr Olivander.”

He eyed me “I didn’t think you’d have much issue knowing which one. Dumbledore was just the same apparently.” With that he set off and came back a minute later with a long box.

“Rowan and Thestral tail hair, 13 and a half inches, swishy, extremely good for transfiguration and all round powerful. A bit of an experiment.” He said, licking his lips. “But you are welcome to it. That’ll be no charge for either of you. I’m too interested to find out what happens with these new wands. Just promise you’ll give me a report soon?”

“Of course” Hugo and I said. Stunned. “Thank you. Bye”

When we got back to Hermione and my mother, we told about what had happened and Hermione said that she’d have to look around the library when she got back to Hogwarts to look into our respective wand types.

“We have to go now. But we’ll come and pick you up to take you to the station on the first of September. So be ready.” Hermione continued.

And with that we parted company, and I couldn’t stop thinking about my new friend all the way back home. Smiling and chatting all the way. It had been a difficult day dodging the sun from shop to shop and I was worn out. But it was worth it a million times over and I couldn’t wait to get to Hogwarts.

A.N. The next chapter will have more about the other characters. This was really just a set-up chapter to get things going. I hope you liked it so please read and review. This is my first proper fanfiction that wasn't for schoolwork. Aaron and Hugo (as you may have guessed) become best friends by the way.